Automotive vehicle engines operate with combustion air that is drawn through an air cleaner located in the air intake system. The air cleaner commonly includes one or more sheets of porous material, such as paper, formed with multiple pleats. The pleated fabric is formed into a ring or cylinder. Engine vacuum draws air inwardly through the fabric cylinder, causing dust particles to be trapped on the outer surfaces of the fabric pleats.
Dust particle build-ups on the fabric surface increase the resistance to air flow. Eventually the fabric ring must either have the dust build-ups removed or the fabric ring replaced with a new fabric element.
Removal of dust build-ups is somewhat complicated by the pleated nature of the fabric. The pleats are usually relatively deep and close together to provide as much total surface area as possible. The closely spaced walls of the narrow crevices permit the dust particles to pack into the bottoms of the crevices, making subsequent dislodgement difficult. The present invention proposes a dust-dislodgement nozzle that operatively spans only a few of the crevices at any one moment, thereby enabling a given aerodynamic dislodgement force to be exerted on a relatively small area of the fabric. The nozzle is arranged to traverse the fabric ring in a combination of rotational and axial motions, sufficient to clean the entire fabric surface.